The Laboratory Core will provide personnel and supplies to process, store and analyze sera and plasma samples for projects 2-4. Conventional ELISA based assays will be performed including insulin, glucose, leptin, adiponectin, IGF-1, IGFBP3, plasma free fatty acids, CRP, SAA, and TNF-alpha. In addition, more novel assays including mass spectrometry based proteomic screens, apoptosis levels, DMA repair gene polymorphisms and expression levels will be performed. Most of these functions (i.e., specimen processing, many of the immunoassays, proteomics and gene expression/polymorphisms) will be performed on-site on the 5th floor of the new Public Health Sciences on the FHCRC campus. For some of the more specialized assays, we will collaborate with experts with demonstrated knowledge and proficiency with the particular assay. The Core Leader, Dr. Paul Lampe, will coordinate the assays both on-site and off-site, will receive and review regular assay reports for quality assurance and will coordinate with the administrative and statistical core to ensure that samples are properly handled, high quality assays are performed and data transfer to the statisticians is efficient.